Subject: Health technologies Publication date: All

This poster outlines the evaluation of two immunochromatographic strip test platforms for the best limit of detection: one uses an antibody colloidal gold conjugate which is visually interpreted yielding qualitative results, and the other uses an antibody paramagnetic particle conjugate which is read by an instrument yielding quantitative results. The resulting limits of detection of these two methods are compared to the target limit of detection for an E6 assay of ~50 pg. Presented at: 23rd Papillomavirus Conference and Clinical Workshop, September 1, 2006; Prague, Czech Republic.

A prototype of a novel diagnostic assay for cervical pre-cancer and cancer has been developed in both a sandwich ELISA-based and a lateral flow–based format (“strip test”). The test specifically detects presence of high-risk HPV-E6 and therefore promises to be of higher predictive value for cervical pre-cancer and cancer than other assays detecting merely presence of HPV. Presented at: 22rd International Papillomavirus Conference and Clinical Workshop, September 1, 2006; Vancouver, Canada.

This issue of Directions in Global Health features five PATH projects: our collaboration with the World Health Organization on the Meningitis Vaccine Project; prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission in Ukraine; a small grants program that is catalyzing behavior change in Africa; the Inter-Act project, which is training truck drivers to slow the HIV epidemic in India; and an evaluation of neonatal resuscitators.

Scientists have been working for decades to develop a preventive malaria vaccine. While they have successfully demonstrated that such a vaccine is possible, many challenges continue to impede progress on the road to an effective malaria vaccine. As a result, the Malaria Vaccine Advisory Committee to the World Health Organization (WHO), coordinated by the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research, called for a collective effort to explore and address the challenges. This effort resulted in the Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap process.

This training aid was developed as part of Training Health Workers in the Management of Sharps Waste. The aid includes a graphical representation of the equipment needed to help protect waste handlers and incinerators during the collection, treatment, and final disposal of health care waste.

This document presents an analysis of safer sharps-waste management activities, including practical options using available or emerging technologies. The analysis includes an estimate of the baseline burden of disease from unsafe injection practices, the proposed solutions' potential impact on burden of disease, and a cost-effectiveness analysis of the proposed solutions.

This is one of a series of fact sheets that describe PATH's current and past work in Kenya. The fact sheets focus on specific projects as well as unique approaches that cut across projects. This fact sheet describes work to improve single-dose packaging of nevirapine for programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

This training aid was developed as part of Training Health Workers in the Management of Sharps Waste. The aid includes a graphical representation of the key steps involved in the safe management of health care waste: segregation, containment, handling and storage, transport, treatment or destruction, and disposal.

We describe the functional elements of a diagnostic instrument and disposable enteric card system under development that rapidly identifies and differentiates Shigella, E. coli, Campylobacter, and Salmonella in stool samples. These elements, currently realized as microfluidic subcircuits on individual cards, are: (1) pathogen capture and lysing, (2) nucleic acid capture, (3) on-chip rapid PCR, and (4) lateral flow detection of amplicons. Presented at the Solid State Sensor, Actuator and Microsystems Workshop, June 4, 2006; Hilton Head Island, SC.

This training aid was developed as part of Training Health Workers in the Management of Sharps Waste. The aid includes a graphical representation of the segregation of medical waste into three categories: non-infectious, infectious, and sharps. Over the last few years, a number of countries have adapted the basic concepts and developed country-specific versions of this aid for training and for display in health facilities. The document available here is a link to an example adapted for Kenya.

This poster reports progress incorporating magnetic beads within a unique lab card that permits efficient capture and enrichment of E. coli O157:H7 from feces. Presented at the 106th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, May 21, 2006; Orlando, FL.

This issue of Outlook provides new information about the female condom as presented at the September 2005 Global Consultation on the Female Condom. Topics include evidence of the female condom's effectiveness for prevention of STIs and pregnancy, issues related to expanding access and use, and gaps in the knowledge base. Successful program examples and a detailed table of female condoms currently available or under development are also presented.

This edition of PATH Today features the articles "A laboratory on a card," "Using microfluidic tests to identify infection," and "Common proteins for common prevention," which highlights the work of John Boslego and his team on pneumococcus. It also includes a letter from donor Shannon Scopa about her family's ordeal with rotavirus.

An exploration of one technique for drying reagents onto a microfluidics card. Reagents needed for immunocapture, lysis, and PCR for pathogen capture can be stored in trehalose or trehalose dextran. Presented at the 1st Distributed Diagnosis and Home Healthcare Conference, April 2, 2006; Arlington, VA.

Demonstration of the PATH enteric flow-through assay as a rapid and cost effective method for detecting pathogenic bacteria in stool samples in low-resource settings. Presented at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Oak Ridge Annual Conference, April 17, 2006; San Jose, CA.

An overview of a method of sample preparation by smart polymers for detection in an immunoassay, demonstrated as part of a diagnostics test for Chlamydia trachomatis.Presented at: 38th Annual American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Oakridge Conference, April 21, 2006; San Jose, CA.

Demonstration of the use of a magnetic immunochromatographic strip (ICS) assay with a reader to detect recombinant HPV-16 E6. The magnetic ICS assay was able to detect as little as 2.6ng of protein. Presented at: 38th Annual Oak Ridge Conference, April 20, 2006; San Jose, CA.